The present invention relates to a control method of sliding a vehicle door by a powered sliding device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,242B1 discloses a clutch mechanism for a powered sliding device for sliding a vehicle door. This clutch mechanism is switched to a first coupled state for transmitting a door-closing rotation of a motor to a wire drum when the motor is rotated in the closing direction, and is switched to a second coupled state for transmitting a door-opening rotation of the motor to the wire drum when the motor is rotated in the opening direction. Further, the clutch mechanism is switched to a first brake state for transmitting the closing rotation of the wire drum to the motor when the wire drum is relatively rotated in the closing direction with respect to the motor in the first coupled state, and is switched to a second brake state for transmitting the opening rotation of the wire drum to the motor when the wire drum is relatively rotated in the opening direction with respect to the motor in the second coupled state. Furthermore, the clutch mechanism is switched to an uncoupled state when the motor is rotated in the opening direction in the first coupled state or the motor is rotated in the closing direction in the second coupled state. Alternatively, when the wire drum is rotated in the opening direction in the first brake state or the drum is rotated in the closing direction in the second brake state, the clutch mechanism is returned to the uncoupled state.
The prior art sliding device provided with the above clutch mechanism has a function of holding a sliding door in a desired semi-open position between a closed position and an open position. However, this semi-open holding function does not work under a specific condition. The reason why the semi-open holding function does not work will be described later in detail in a column of xe2x80x9cDoor-Opening Cancellation Operationxe2x80x9d according to an embodiment of the present invention. Because the clutch mechanism should be sufficiently appreciated in order to understand this reason.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the above disadvantage by using a clutch mechanism and an auxiliary brake in combination with them.
Alternatively, an object of the present invention is to provide a control method to decrease a possibility that a holding function of the clutch mechanism is released unintentionally when a vehicle body is in a nose-down inclined state.